


Trial By Media

by Pink_Printer



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angry Kara Danvers, Angry Lena Luthor, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Lena Luthor Knows Kara Danvers Is Supergirl, OR IS IT, Protective Alex Danvers, Sad Kara Danvers, Sad Lena Luthor, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:01:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23376559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pink_Printer/pseuds/Pink_Printer
Summary: “Cut the crap Andrea, why am I – ““The newest cover model for CatCo Magazine?” questioned Andrea innocently.“Why the hell is there a front-page article accusing me of upsetting Supergirl?”Ordinarily, Lena ignored any articles about her. The ones attacking her character came far too often after Lex, and any press is good press, after all. But this was personal- - -When an article appears on CatCo's front page accusing Lena of upsetting Supergirl, it causes L-Corp's stocks to crash. Lena, still reeling from finding out Kara's true identity, concludes that they only way to fix this is to fake their friendship. Of course, Kara agrees.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 102
Kudos: 576





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! Sorry if this is awful but quarantine has pushed me to produce my first ever piece of writing. Please be nice. Also, this ignores the Crisis on Infinite Earths Storyline and Lex stays dead.

The articles began to appear a week after their confrontation in the Fortress of Solitude. At first Lena didn’t take much notice of Kara’s sad face plastered on the front page of some trashy magazine, with the headline, “Supergirl, Why So Sad?”

But then they started to pile up.

At first there were only a few, and only in the type of magazines read by those who didn’t matter to L-Corp. Lena tried to ignore the way Kara’s sunken shoulders tugged at her heartstrings, or the way her eyes looked dimmer every day. She really did. But that was before the front page of CatCo Magazine was timidly placed on her desk by Jess.

Lena was _furious_.

“Jess, could please get Andrea on the phone immediately”

Jess, having predicted this only had to press dial. “Right away, Miss Luthor”

The phone was picked up before the end of the first ring, as if Andrea had been eagerly awaiting such a phone call. “Lena! What a pleasure it is to hear from you.”

Lena could picture her smug face and it did nothing to quash the fire of rage that threatened to erupt from her at any moment.

“Cut the crap Andrea, why am I – “

“The newest cover model for CatCo Magazine?” questioned Andrea innocently.

“Why the hell is there a front-page article accusing me of upsetting Supergirl?”

Ordinarily, Lena ignored any articles about her. The ones attacking her character came far too often after Lex, and any press is good press, after all. But this was personal.

“Lena you must have seen this coming,” scoffed Andrea, “Supergirl’s been wandering around like a lost puppy for weeks now and it’s no secret that she’s no longer welcome at L-Corp events”

“And you don’t think, ‘What has Luthor done this time?” next to a sobbing picture of Supergirl might have been a bit much?”

Lena couldn’t process it all when she first saw the paper, but the accusation was there clear as day. Lena, once again, was the bad guy and Kara was the poor innocent victim that could do no wrong.

“Lena you know how headlines work,” laughed Andrea with a nasal tone that Lena was ready to rip from her throat. “The people were dying to know what had Supergirl so upset, and what with the rumours and tension surrounding you too – it was obvious that something had happened”

Lena had never regretted selling CatCo more than in that moment. Well, maybe when she saw the devasted look on Kara’s face, but she wasn’t ready to entertain that thought yet.

“Whatever has gone on between Supergirl and me is none of your business,” snarled Lena. “Get that page out of circulation”

Andrea burst out laughing. “Or what Lena? You promised me an amazing story and you didn’t deliver - so I had to improvise”

By this point, the anger Lena had been attempting to contain was threatening to rear its ugly head. “Fuck you. If I see something about Supergirl and me on the front page again, you’ll be hearing from my lawyers”

“Always so bureaucratic Lena, honestly a bit of bad press has never gotten you so worked up before” Andrea knew exactly which buttons to press when it came to Lena, and she was very pleased to find out how far she could push the issue of Supergirl with Lena.

Lena knew that there was no way she was getting that headline taken down and she knew that she had already given Andrea far too much ammunition, so she slammed the phone down.

She didn’t know whether to scream or cry, so she settled on opening the nearest bottle of whiskey and downing it like it was the first drink she’d had all day – it wasn’t.

She hadn’t meant to make her distance from Kara so obvious, but it was hard when the girl had once consumed her entire life. Every L- Corp event, every party – Kara was there in one form or both. Maybe banning her visits to the L-Corp hospital was a bit much - but Supergirl created too much hysteria and the patients always got far too worked up after her visits.

Lena didn’t need another Super vs Luthor battle hanging over her head. She needed to start at least _looking_ like she didn’t want to slap Supergirl every time she saw her. Her reputation was at stake after all.

And Lena knew exactly how she was going to fix the problem that Kara created – once again.

  * -



It was Alex that first informed Kara of the article’s existence. “Do I need to storm the L-Corp building right now?” demanded Alex, as soon as she arrived for sister’s night. She knew that Kara had been upset about Lena, but that picture was _heart-breaking._ Nobody upset Kara like that and got away with it.

“Alex, what are you are talking about?” Kara had just gotten back to her apartment after a long day filled with bad people and fires. Ever since she lost her daily lunch dates with Lena – hell, the ability to talk to her at all, Kara’s days seem to drag on a little bit longer and the losses hit her a little bit harder.

“Would you like to tell me what Lena did to you that made you break down in the middle of National City? seethed Alex. “And why she’s been such a bitch that even CatCo has picked up on it and made it their front-page story”

“They did what?” screeched Kara, “No, no, no she’s going to kill me. She already hates me, but this is just going to make everything a million times worse”

Kara didn’t need to look at the article to know what picture Alex had been talking about. It was from yesterday following the aftermath of a school bus crash. She was dealing with a robbery at the time, but she had flown as hard as she could – still she just wasn’t good enough. By the time she got there a little girl had already been crushed under her seat and they had to remove her legs.

Kara got everyone else out in time and rushed the girl to hospital, but she was just so _tired._ So yes, she sobbed in the middle of National City, and yes, the fact that she couldn’t go to Lena’s and at least hug her might have had something to do with it. But it was not Lena’s fault, and she would not have CatCo, her own pride and joy, desecrate Lena’s name like this.

“Kara!” Alex’s voice brought Kara back from her thoughts, “What did Lena do that had you so upset?”

“Absolutely nothing!” insisted Kara, “A little girl got hurt and it upset me – that’s all.”

“Kara you know that you can talk to me about anything”

“Alex, honestly it was just a long day and I was tired and upset after a mission, so I cried – nothing more to it”. Of course, the constant crushing weight of Lena’s absence didn’t help but Kara was trying to get Alex to stand down here.

“I just know that the whole Lena situation has got you feeling down lately”

 _The Lena Situation._ That’s one way to put having your heart ripped out by the love of your life, because of your stupid mistakes, Kara thought bitterly.

“Alex, do you think that maybe the DEO could pull those papers from circulation?” Kara knew that there was no way of fixing her relationship with Lena, if she thought that she played any part in the existence of the article. The thought that someone sitting across from Kara, someone who she talked to, could release such vile and personal information about her and Lena made her feel sick.

“Kara that’s censorship – it’s not something that we do lightly”

Kara didn’t even try to hide her scoff at that, “As if that isn’t the DEO’s favourite past time. Alex, I need you to do this for me – please.”

“Fine I’ll see what I can do”, huffed Alex as if she hadn’t been planning on doing the exact same thing the moment, she saw the article.

“Thanks Alex” Kara turned back to the film and knew that she had to talk to Lena as soon as Alex left. Lena might already hate her, but she had to know that Kara didn’t believe anything that was written in that article. The thought of making Lena upset again made Kara’s heart hurt and all she wanted to do was fly over to Lena’s apartment and tell her that she was in love with her, that the only way Lena had ever upset her was to deny her of the one thing that she needed, that she craved – Lena.

But she couldn’t. Lena hated her and flying there would just make things worse. Kara was just so tired of missing Lena

  * -



When Kara woke up, she was on her couch with a blanket draped over her – she must’ve fallen asleep in the middle of the movie. Alex was gone and it was pitch black outside, but Kara’s attention quickly turned to the sound that woke her up.

Her phone was ringing. Her watch showed that it was 3am. No good phone call has ever been made at 3am.

“Hello” Kara had scrambled to the phone in her sleep deprived state.

“Supergirl.” It was Lena – the first time they’d spoken since Lena had left her at the Fortress.

“I know its late, but I think we need to talk, don’t you” her words came out cold and Kara gripped the phone like it was her lifeline.

“Lena, I swear to Rao I didn’t know anything about the article. Please believe me.” Kara was begging down the phone but the fear of losing Lena forever had crept its way into her heart and was currently gripping harder than ever.

“Supergirl your knowledge of the article is of no consequence to me,” sighed Lena, clearly not believing anything Kara had said, “although a heads up would have been appreciated”

“Lena please believe me” Kara’s voice cracked, and she could feel tears forming in her eyes. “I know that you’re mad, not just about this but about everything, but I need us to fix us – fix what I broke, _please_ ”

“There is no fixing us Supergirl – in fact I don’t think there ever was an us. Not really. Not when you lied every step of the way. Our foundations were cracked from the beginning and you can’t build anything good from that”

“No” Kara was shaking her head vehemently as if she was trying to shake the whole situation away and go back to the way things were. “Lena you know that’s not true. What we had was so good, it was not broken - and I will apologise until the day I die for lying, but I will never apologise for being your friend, for loving you”

“Look, Kara I didn’t call you because I wanted to talk about our relationship. I called you because apparently when you upset National City’s Sweetheart it causes your stocks to crash and I have worked too hard to let L-Corp fail because I was naïve enough to trust someone”

Each word was another stab at Kara’s heart – it was like Lena just didn’t care about her, about _them_ anymore and that indifference felt so much worse than hatred.

“Lena, I am so sorry – I know that you don’t believe me, but I promise that I had nothing to do with the article and it kills me that I’ve hurt you again”

“I don’t need your apologies Kara. I need this situation fixed and – “

“Anything! I’ll do anything to fix this for you Lena. Please just let me help you.” Kara’s need to please Lena would almost sound pathetic if it wasn’t for the fact that she sounded like her whole world was ending again.

“I just need the rumours and headlines about us to die down, and the only way that’s going to happen is if the media thinks that we’re friends again”

“Lena, I don’t understand what you mean – you just said that there was no fixing us” Lena could almost hear Kara’s brows crinkle in confusion, something that could be found adorable if Lena wasn’t so focused on not liking Kara.

“There isn’t Kara – this isn’t about fixing us but fixing my image, for the sake of L-Corp,” replied Lena hotly. “I just need you to accompany me to a few events – to not look like someone’s kicked your puppy every time you go out as Supergirl.”

“You want us to fake a friendship?” Being friends with Lena was all Kara could have hoped for, but this just felt so wrong, “you really hate me that much that you can’t even forgive me when it benefits you”

“I just need it to look like we still get along Kara, believe me its not like I want to be in this situation either” spat Lena, “I was perfectly happy with the way things were but you just had to drag me back into your life”

Well as happy as someone who felt like half their being was missing, and whose alcohol consumption would shock an AA meeting, could be but Kara didn’t need to know that.

“I’m sorry that me missing you has caused you such an inconvenience,” whimpered Kara, “but you’re still my best friend even if I’m not yours and I just want you to be happy”

“I just need you to come to a few L-Corp parties and tell everyone that you meet there that we’re better friends than ever.”

The fact that their friendship had come to this – to faking it did make Lena want to cry, in fact it made her want to jump into Kara’s arms and forgive her. But that was weakness, and she needed to be strong, for herself and for the sake of L-Corp.

“Lena that’s all I want to do – to be your friend, to tell other people how much you mean to me.” This whole situation was crazy to Kara – it was like someone had handed her, her number one wish but it was wrong and distorted, and it almost made her not want it. Almost

“This absolutely does not mean I forgive you” It felt cruel to say it, but to Lena leading Kara into a false sense of security would have been worse. “Kara I just need you to play your part – you owe me this”

Kara swallowed the cry that tried to escape, “Understood. This means nothing to you – just tell me where you want me to be and I’ll be there”

Lena’s victory felt shallow and if it wasn’t for L-Corp’s figures being at their lowest since Lex she would just forget that any of this had ever happened.

“The first L-Corp event is on Friday at 8.” The invitation felt cheap and hollow, especially compared to how excited Lena had been when Kara came to her first L-Corp function.

“Don’t worry I’ll be there” Kara replied, mistaking Lena’s hesitation for annoyance, “Even if you don’t want me there”, she added darkly.

“Kara, thank you for doing this, I know that it will be especially uncomfortable considering the circumstances, but I am grateful for your help.” Guilt began to plague Lena’s mind, but she squashed it deep inside. Lena’s universe needed them to be friends at the moment, even if she wasn’t ready for it.

“Lena do you think – is there any chance that you’ll ever forgive me?” Kara asked as she allowed her hope to creep up unguarded.

The line went dead, crushing Kara’s heart all over again.

  * -



Friday rolled around much more quickly than Kara could have anticipated, and Kara’s emotions were all over the place. She was excited to see Lena, she didn’t think that there would ever be a time when she wasn’t, but she felt like her nerves were going to suffocate her.

How do you even begin to pretend to be in a friendship with your best friend, who you’re in love with, who just so happens to hate you. The whole situation made Kara’s head hurt but she knew that she needed to stay in control for Lena.

Kara had given herself some time to think and she’d come to the conclusion that she was never going to stop trying to make it up to Lena. No matter how long it took, or how hopeless the situation looked at the moment, Lena was worth it.

“Kara, open up” Crap it was Alex. Kara had omitted to mention the little detail of her Friday night plans.

“Alex! I didn’t know that you were coming over,” Kara’s attempt at nonchalance was bitterly failing, “what can I help you with?”

“What’s going on here?”. Alex was now well versed in the art of a panicked Kara; she just didn’t understand why she would be standing in the middle of her apartment pacing in her Supergirl suit.

“Nothing! Everything’s great, everything’s normal” replied Kara a little too enthusiastically

“Kara,” Alex warned

“Okay fine, I’m going to the L-Corp party tonight” huffed Kara, as if Alex had just forced her to reveal the whereabouts of her secret snack stash – something that would remain hidden for the rest of her days.

Alex stepped backed, visibly confused by this development, “I thought that you two were on bad terms?” questioned Alex, “there was a whole article written about it and everything”

“We are”, murmured Kara bitterly, “Lena just needed Supergirl to patrol the party tonight so I’m going”

The whole situation seemed off to Alex. One second Lena is telling Kara that they will never be friends again, and the next she wants Kara to patrol her parties? But Kara looked like one more stressful thing before this party would push her over the edge, so Alex decided not to push.

“Well that sounds promising,” Alex could not have sounded more unconvincing if she tried, “I’ll be on hand if Supergirl needs any back up”

“I think its more of a media thing for L-Corp than actually protection, but I promise if anything goes wrong, you’ll be the first to know.” Kara tried to placate Alex, but her nerves were bouncing off all the walls in the room.

“Just be careful Kara – please” Alex knew that Kara could never think logically when it came to Lena, and that she’d put herself at risk if it meant that she could see Lena happy again

“I swear to Rao Alex, I’ll turn up say a few words and be back in bed before midnight”

“Alright Cinderella – If I don’t hear from you by 1, I’m sending a team out,” joked Alex – at least Kara thought that she was joking.

Kara checked her watch, _7.52,_ she could not be late. She barely had time to say goodbye to Alex before she scrambled outside of her window and zoomed down to L-Corp – potentially breaking the sound barrier on her way.

  * -



“Supergirl”, greeted Jess, not unkindly, but with clear concern in her voice, “Miss Luthor was getting worried that you wouldn’t show”

“Well here I am!”, laughed Kara nervously. She quickly checked her watch again. 7.55. “with five minutes to spare”

Jess, seemingly taking pity on the poor girl instructed Kara to wait near the food, “Miss Luthor will be down very soon to talk to you before the event starts.” This did nothing to stop Kara’s nerves from building. “But she said to help yourself to as many potstickers as you wish”

Potstickers. Kara didn’t want to overthink anything, but that must mean something. You don’t order 500 pieces of someone’s favourite food if they mean nothing to you.

“Supergirl”, Lena’s voice dragged Kara back to the room, “I see that you’ve already become acquainted with the food”

Lena had been watching Kara from afar, and if she could just stop thinking about everything that had happened, she could pretend that it was just like old times. But then Kara’s red cape caught Lena’s eye and she pushed all of those feelings down. This was business – not personal, and she couldn’t allow herself to fall for Kara again.

“Lena! Jess said that it was alright.” Kara spluttered out her words, like a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar. “And I didn’t know where you wanted me to stand, and Jess said that you wanted to talk to me, and – “

“Kara!”. Lena interrupted Kara before she caused herself to combust, “I put them out for you, it okay. I just wanted to go over the ground rules for tonight”

“Ground rules?” They’d never had rules before, rules made this whole thing even more upsetting for Kara than it already way.

“It’s clear that we need them Kara. I want this to go as smoothly as possible and I can’t be worrying about something going wrong with us when I have 200 investors coming tonight”

Kara didn’t know how to react. Did Lena think that she would cause a scene? That she’d beg for forgiveness in the L-Corp lobby. Rules made Kara feel like Lena didn’t even trust her to stand still.

“Don’t look at me like that Kara. I just need both of us to remember why you’re here tonight.” Lena was getting more frustrated with each passing moment, and Kara had only just got here.

Before Kara could day anything, Lena brought out her iPad and began to recite her rules, like she was trying to remove any sense of personal attachment from the evening.

“Rule Number One – Don’t mention the article unless someone else asks you about it – If they do laugh and tell them how utterly ridiculous it was.

Rule Number Two – You’re here to talk to the editors – not the investors. I trust you can tell the difference.

Rule Number Three – Remember the only reason you are here is to convince people that I haven’t upset National City’s sweetheart, not to restore whatever friendship you think we had – in essence – “

Kara felt like Lena had just stomped her chest for the third time in a week. All she wanted to do was be friends with Lena, well not all but any hope for that died with Lex’s admission. She just wasn’t sure if she could keep this up for a whole evening.

“This means nothing.” Kara recited bitterly, “Got it. You hate me – let’s just get this over with”

Kara looked so heartbroken and all Lena wanted to do was reach out and comfort her. But she couldn’t. Especially not know – this was business, not personal.

  * -



The party got off to an extremely slow start. Lena made sure to be seen with Kara, but once she was confident that enough people had seen them interact, she vanished to the other side of the room before Kara could even attempt to actually talk to her.

Kara busied herself with the editors – talking about how preposterous the headlines recently had been – and reminding them that any exclusives they had with Supergirl could very easily be taken away. But mostly Kara spent the beginning of her evening talking about how amazing Lena was and hope she could not have asked for a better friend. She decided that she could get through the evening very easily if that was all she had to do.

But then Andrea appeared, like a snake guiding its way through a crowd, ready to pounce on its prey, and she looked like she was heading straight to Kara.

“Supergirl!” Andrea’s voice cut through everyone else’s and held a sickly-sweet quality to it, only found in those clearly putting on an act. “I never thought that I’d find you here. In fact, I was under the impression that Lena had banned Supergirl from all L-Corp events”

Kara, although incredibly surprised to see that Lena had invited Andrea, decided that now would be the perfect time to talk to Andrea about the CatCo article. She was sure that it was simply a misunderstanding.

“Andrea, I actually need to talk to you.” Kara embodied her famous Supergirl stance, “That headline was a complete lie and you know it. I know CatCo had drifted away from hard hitting news lately, but you could at least fact check the content that you’re putting out”

Andrea pretended to look shocked at Supergirl’s admission, “Supergirl, I take great offence to that! My sources are extremely credible, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that you looked very sad, at the same time you mysteriously stopped turning up to L-Corp events”

“Look Andrea I don’t know who your sources are but they’re wrong. Lena and I are better than ever so you can stop printing lies.”

Kara was beginning to get frustrated with the whole situation, and she just wanted it all to stop. Wanted everything to go back to normal.

Not wanting to be accused of upsetting Supergirl herself, Andrea placed a comforting hand on Kara’s shoulder. Both women had been far too engrossed in their tense exchange to notice Lena watching them, her fury building with each passing second that they stood next to each other. Neither did they notice Lena stalk over to them, as if she was ready to rip someone’s head off.

Suddenly Lena as mere inches from them and she barely managed to contain her fists before she spat out, “Get the fuck away from Supergirl, Andrea”

Kara leapt from Andrea’s touch as soon as she noticed Lena, as if it had burnt her. Andrea turned her head, sporting a very knowing smile.

Now the party had really begun.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the comments I got on the first chapter. I genuinely wasn't expecting anyone to want anymore so the fact that so many of you did was amazing to hear. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Kara’s eyes widened and she unconsciously took a step towards Lena, ready to intervene if the situation escalated, which, judging by the look on Lena’s face, was seeming increasingly likely.

“If you are not off my premises in the next minute, I will not hesitate to have my security escort you all the way back to whatever hole you call a home,” snarled Lena.

By this point people were beginning to stare and Kara, still caught in the middle, was beginning to worry about what the fall out would do to the progress she had made with Lena. If you can call someone disliking you to your face instead of ignoring your daily phone calls progress.

“Lena, this is no way to treat an old friend,” laughed Andrea. Although she was becoming increasingly aware of the fact that Lena had not skipped out on the martial arts lessons offered at their boarding school. “Honestly, your empty threats are beginning to tire me. I was just having a conversation with Supergirl, no need to act like I’ve taken away your favourite toy.”

“I trust Supergirl enough to know that she’d never willingly spend her time in such a vile presence,” sneered Lena, “and I will not allow you to come here uninvited and worry my guests with your disruptive behaviour.”

Kara’s heart jumped at the revelation that Lena still trusted her, but her attention was quickly pulled to the hand inching closer to Lena’s face. Her super speed kicked in and the perpetrator was on the ground before anyone realised that Lena was in danger of being hit.

Andrea let out an ungodly shriek as she fell to the ground, and if guests weren’t aware of the escalating situation before, their eardrums at least were.

“Unhand me this instance Supergirl,”

Once Kara was sure that Andrea knew better than to try anything again, she cautiously released her hold on the woman and took a protective stance near Lena.

Lena stood smugly next to Kara, and suddenly felt less angry and more empowered, “Andrea, that’s no way to behave in public. It’s a good thing we’re not surrounded by editors or this could really cause you some problems.”

If looks could kill, both Kara and Lena would already be on the floor. It was all Andrea could do to scoop up the little dignity she had left and allow herself to be escorted out by Lena’s security, who Lena would be having strong words with later.

Before she got out of earshot, Andrea looked Lena dead in the eye, “I promise you that you’ll regret this Lena. Your little lapdog won’t always be around to protect you.”

Aware that the situation had gotten extremely out of hand, in front of close to a thousand people, Lena sighed and went to work damage control amongst her guests, which consisted of several promises of meetings and a reminder about the well-stocked, open bar.

  * -



Kara stood still, trying to process the events of the last five minutes. If Kara didn’t know any better, she would have said that Lena’s anger was fuelled by jealousy. But Kara did know better. Lena had so far barely tolerated her presence.

It was just Lena’s annoyance about the article and the fact that Andrea had turned up unannounced. This had ruined any progress that Kara may have made by playing the dutiful best friend. Now all Kara wanted to, no needed to do, was talk to Lena.

Aware that the evening was drawing to a close, Kara frantically searched for Lena.

“Who even needs this many rooms,” she huffed out, after her search came up empty. She was just about ready to give up when she caught a glimmer of a red dress huddled, in what looked like a serious conversation, with a group of boring men in suits.

Caught up in the rush of the evening, Kara hadn’t allowed herself to take it all in. Lena was right here in front of her, Lena had invited her to an event, and they were at least talking for the first time in what felt like an eternity. She really didn’t want to ruin it by talking about what had happened, but she knew that she needed to.

Kara caught Lena’s eye, which prompted Lena to leave the group of men to talk amongst themselves and head over to her.

“Lena, I swear that I was trying to get Andrea to take the article down, that was it”, Kara rushed out.

“Look Kara we’re both tired,” and Lena began to shake her head in a way that put Kara on edge, “you need to go home, and I need to think.”

“No, Lena we need to talk. I’m not leaving until we talk about this.”

The fear that Lena was trying to avoid talking to Kara, as a way to just silently cut her out of her life again, was running around Kara’s mind and was currently all she could think about.

“Kara, we’re both tired –,” Lena began.

“ _Please_ , I just really need to talk to you,” sniffled Kara, who was trying her hardest to keep the tears, that threatened to escape, at bay.

“I have to stay here and tie up a few loose ends on some deals.” Kara’s heart dropped and she was sure that this was actually it. She was hardly coping with the little hope she had left, surely their friendship was worth more to Lena than that. Kara couldn’t believe that Lena could just throw it all away just like that, right when it was getting better.

“But, as soon as I’m done, I’ll call round to your apartment. You’re right we have a lot to talk about.”

Kara, already prepared for a fight began, “Lena, you can’t just _do_ this, I won’t let you.”

Kara’s brain, had at this point caught up to the conversation and her smile covered up any embarrassment she felt, “You’ll really come?”

“I might be not get there until late, but if you want me there, I’ll be over.”

Kara couldn’t contain her excitement, and was practically jumping as she got out, “Thank you, thank you! Take as long as you need, I’ll wait up.”

Lena turned, wondering if she had led Kara to believe that their talk would be a positive one and she ran a very frustrated hand through her hair. The night was proving to be very long.

  * -



Kara flew back to her apartment as quickly as she could, determined to clean up any evidence of her sad filled, Lena deprived recent days.

She wasn’t expecting to see Alex there, camped out on her couch with concern etched across her face.

“Alex! What are you doing here so late?” Kara quickly checked her watch, 11.45, “I’m back before midnight, just like I promised”

“Kara, the last thing I hear from you is that you’re going off to a random L-Corp event that Lena, who to my knowledge is still very angry with you, just happened to invite you to. And then you don’t contact me all night.”

Alex looked angry, something Kara was not privy to very often, and like she was ready to ground Kara.

Kara tried to ease the tension, “Alright, Mom” she chuckled out.

This was definitely not the right thing to say, and Alex drew back, as if she was getting ready to give the lecture of her life, “Kara- “

“Sorry,” mumbled Kara, “clearly the wrong thing to say. But I’m absolutely fine, I was just a little preoccupied at the party. I’m sorry for not letting you know I was okay.”

“Pre-occupied with what?”

Shoot. Kara really didn’t want to be having this conversation with Alex. Especially when there was another potential conversation that was taking up a lot of her brain power at that moment.

“Just angry socialites, I’m sure you’ll hear about it tomorrow,” huffed Kara.

“It didn’t involve Andrea did it,” Alex said knowingly.

“What, no, why would you think, that of course not!”, spluttered a very caught out Kara.

Alex just looked at her and sighed.

“Alright, yes but it wasn’t my fault. I promise! Andrea came out of nowhere, uninvited may I add, and she just caused a big scene.”

“And Lena, had nothing to do with,” questioned Alex.

“Of course not.” Kara looked incredulously at Alex, “why would you even go there Alex. I won’t have this conversation with you again. Lena. Is. Not. Evil”

Kara was clearly getting far too worked up about the conversation, and Alex threw her hands up in surrender.

“I am absolutely not saying that Kara. I just assumed that Lena would be rightfully angry about the article that Andrea wrote.”

“Oh.” Kara looked at the floor, now ashamed at her outburst.

“But Kara, your outlook on Lena isn’t healthy.”

Alex put her hand up to stop the protest that she knew was about to come from Kara, “Just hear me out, please.”

Kara glared at her but muttered out, “Fine.”

“I agree with you a thousand percent that Lena isn’t evil. But Kara, good people still do bad things, especially when they’re angry, and your blind devotion isn’t helping either of you. Yes, you did the wrong thing by lying to her but the way she’s treated you recently isn’t right either.”

Kara stood, stunned from Alex’s’ revelation, “I didn’t know you saw it that way”

“It’s just my view as an independent observer. I want nothing more than for you guys to go back to being best friends again. But there is absolutely no point in trying if it’s just going to hurt the both of you”

“It won’t” Kara quickly replied.

“If you’re sure Kara, then that’s great. I’m just asking you to make sure that you’re both safe and happy in whatever situations the two of you find yourselves in.”

“I know you’re just trying to look out for me,” Kara was torn between hugging Alex and making her leave. “But I promise you that Lena makes me happy. I know this fight looks bad, but I really think that we can get through it”

“Nobody knows the situation better than you Kara, just promise me that you’ll call if anything goes wrong,” pleaded Alex.

Kara felt exposed by the conversation that had just taken place and could only get out a small, “I promise.”

Alex, having noticed the emotional toll that Kara had just experienced, decided to change the subject, “I’m definitely not working next Wednesday so why don’t we watch the new Disney film and have another sister night?”

Kara, grateful for the happy change of pace, smiled back, “That sounds amazing!”

“Just don’t forget to call me,” Alex called out as she headed to the door.

“Will do!”

  * -



The door shut and suddenly Kara was alone with her thoughts again. They began to spiral; What if Lena thought that this wasn’t good for them? What if the only reason Lena agreed to come to Kara’s apartment was so that there wouldn’t be another scene at the party? What if.

A knock at the door brought her back from her thoughts.

Kara cautiously opened the door, as if it was Pandora’s box. A very tired looking Lena stood on the other side.

“Lena,” Kara breathed out as if just by looking at her, Kara’s troubles disappeared, “please come in.”

Lena looked incredibly worn out, and like she had rushed straight from L-Corp. She looked straight at Kara, unsure of where to begin.

Kara misinterpreted Lena’s thinking for disapproval and rushed to change out of her Supergirl outfit into her pyjamas. Hopefully Lena would be less likely to break her heart, if she was dressed like the friend she knew, not the figure she despised.

Lena looked back at Kara, bemused at the sudden blur surrounding the room. The sight that met her melted her heart. Kara was stood in the pyjamas she brought over to their movie nights, with her fluffy slippers on. She was struggling to remember why she was angry in the first place.

Her eyes scanned over and was met with Kara’s Supergirl costume in a heap on the floor. Right, that was why.

“Kara, I know that tonight didn’t go as planned,” Lena began.

“I swear that I wasn’t trying to talk to Andrea. Well maybe a little but – but only to tell her to stop printing lies about us. I told her that we were better than ever, and then you came over and. Well you know what happened next.” Lena could hardly keep up with Kara’s ramble, but she took everything in.

“I know that Andrea approached you.”

“Oh, thank Rao, I just didn’t want you to get the wrong idea. I promise that the plan worked with everyone else I spoke to.”

Lena was the most placid she’d been around Kara since their fight, and it was putting Kara on edge.

Noticing that Kara began to fidget, Lena decided that it was best to get on with what she had to say, “I know that Andrea approached you, but that doesn’t mean that I’m happy with what took place”

Kara’s head snapped up, “What do you mean?”

“Andrea’s a very powerful woman and tonight just added more fuel to the fire, that she clearly delights in being around”

“Lena, she was going to hit you.” Kara replied matter-of-factly, “I had to do something.”

“You could have let me handle it,” snapped Lena.

Kara couldn’t believe that out of everything, Lena was annoyed about this, “Because you were so clearly handling it yourself. It’s not like protecting you was the whole reason everyone thought Supergirl was there or anything”

“It’s not the first time someone has tried to hit me, and it certainly won’t be the last.”

“I was perfectly happy dealing with Andrea, you were the one that came over and demanded that she leave.” Kara really didn’t want to accuse Lena of anything, but she was tired of every little thing she does being wrong in Lena’s eyes.

“I’ll admit that I behaved abhorrently tonight,” Lena was sure that it was going to a cause at headache in the boardroom on Monday, “but Andrea always knows which buttons to push, and apparently she found out that you were one of them”

Kara knew that she didn’t like Andrea after she took over from CatCo, especially after she published the article, but the knowledge that she had continuously upset Lena made her blood boil.

“Lena, I promise you that she won’t bother you again,” Kara vowed.

Lena let out a knowing smile at this, “I know you want to help darling, but Andrea is simply one of life’s great annoyances that I have had to learn to circumnavigate.”

Darling. It must have slipped past Lena’s lips, but it boosted Kara’s confidence and made her sure that they were heading in the right direction.

“I know tonight didn’t go as planned but I’m sure that if we keep on trying, the next event will be so much better,” Kara was confident that their plan could work, “before Andrea turned up, I even had a few editors ask about a joint interview.”

Lena’s face dropped and Kara couldn’t work out what she had said, but it was clearly the wrong thing.

“I think tonight has proved that the plan didn’t work,” Kara looked like Lena had just ripped her heart out, “We just did too much, too fast.”

“What, you know that’s not true,” cried Kara, “I promise I didn’t mean to talk to Andrea. I’ll avoid her next time, or personally escort he out. Whatever you want Lena just don’t give up yet. Please don’t give up on us.”

“I just meant that maybe going straight to an L-Corp event was a bit much.”

Lena knew that she shouldn’t have expected Kara to handle herself in a room full of vultures, but in her defence, she didn’t exactly have time to iron out the details of this plan. It was ridiculous enough by itself without adding more self-absorbed investors and socialites to the mix.

“What does that mean for us.” Kara was sure that she was going to have whiplash by the time this day was finally over.

“I just mean that maybe we should have started with coffee dates before we moved on to big parties.”

They were just as public as a party, the paparazzi were sure to follow her there, but it would be much less likely for Lena’s enemy to stumble upon them there.

This was better news than Kara could have hoped for. It would be just like old times, maybe she could even convince Lena to start coming back to games night.

“This is great Lena. We can go back to that coffee shop near L-Corp and we can finally talk normally. Just the two of us.”

“This can’t be just like old times,” Lena really needed to stop building Kara’s hopes up, only to crush them a minuet later, “I’m just not very for that”

Kara was beginning to get frustrated, “Well that what do you suggest Lena? There’s only so many ways you can change going to get coffee.”

“Sam’s in town next week. I was thinking of inviting her.”

“So, we need a moderator now? It’s coffee Lena.” Kara was beginning to lose hope that they’d ever go back to normal.

“I told you that I’m just not ready for that Kara,” Lena huffed out, “You need to respect that.”

“Well then you need to respect that I need more to hang on to.” Alex was right, there was no point going ahead with this if it was just going to hurt them both, “I asked you if there was any chance that you’ll ever forgive me, and you just hung up Lena. Do you know how worthless that made me feel? I need an answer”

Lena wasn’t ready to be friends with Kara, but she wasn’t ready to completely lose her either. She felt like everything was crumbling underneath her, and she didn’t know how to react.

“You can’t just give me that ultimatum Kara,” Lena felt like she was going to cry, “I don’t know and I’m not ready to think about it.”

Kara decided to go for a softer approach.

“I’m not asking for you to forgive me Lena,” soothed Kara, “I’m just asking if there is the tiniest chance that you ever could. If not, then we’re just going to have to deal with the headlines because they’re not just going to disappear.”

Lena knew that this whole thing was unfair on Kara when she first thought of it, she just assumed that she’d have longer before she began to feel guilty about it. If she didn’t say yes, the plan would fail, and that was all that mattered – the plan, not Kara.

“There’s a chance.”

Kara couldn’t believe it, that was all that she had wanted to hear, and Lena was right in front of her, actually speaking to her and telling her that there was a chance for her. For them.

“You really mean that,” sobbed Kara, “this isn’t just so I’ll go to the coffee shop with you and Sam?”

“Yes, but Kara, you have to understand that a chance does not mean yes,” Lena felt like she had been forced into forgiving Kara before she was ready to, “and if you ever betray me again, there will ne chance, there will be no us, okay.”

Although it felt tainted, Lena’s admission of the slightest chance made Kara happier than she had been in weeks. She would put up with the stupid parties, and with Sam’s supervision, if it meant that she could get her best friend back.

“I promise I will never betray you again.” Kara sounded as serious as someone swearing an oath, “I will swear it to Rao if you want Lena. I’ll have coffee with Sam, and I promise that I’ll never make you doubt my love for you ever again.”

This all felt too much for Lena, like she’d accidentally given away a piece of her armour. But then Kara was standing there in her fuzzy pyjamas, with the biggest smile she’d ever seen, and Lena decided that for now this would be okay. She would be okay for now.

“I am holding you to that,” Lena warned, “it’s late and I need to speak to Sam about her new role as supervisor.” It almost sounded like Lena found the situation funny now. If it weren’t for the worry etched across her face Kara might have believed it.

“Kara, for now the rules still apply – I said there was a chance, but you still hurt me, and it may be beyond repair.”

And with that she left, leaving behind a very pensive Kara.

  * -



Lena decided to ring Sam the next morning, already sure that she would agree but not without some serious explanations.

“Lena, I was just about to ring you!” Sometimes Lena forgot that there were other people in the world, besides Kara, who she could count on and who would actually want to speak to her, “Ruby is beyond excited about our trip next week.”

“I was actually just ringing to talk to you about that,” Lena really didn’t know how to approach this, “do you think that you could do me a favour when you get down here?”

“Of course, you don’t want me to help you kill someone do you” laughed Sam. The line went quiet whilst Lena thought of how to ask her, “Lena, you know normally I’d be up for anything, but I have to think about Ruby, and she wouldn’t cope if I went to prison.”

“No, Sam it’s definitely not that,” although she would like someone to take Andrea off of her hands, “I need you to come on a coffee date with me and Kara.”

Sam let out a very, very relieved sigh.

“You had me worried for a second there, Luthor. Of course, I’ll third wheel on a date with you and Kara, why didn’t you tell me that you’d finally asked her out?”

Lena choked on the water she was drinking and as soon as she got her breath back, she spluttered out, “It’s not romantic Sam. Purely platonic. A friendship date. Wait, what do you mean finally ask her out?”

“Lena, you don’t have to pretend with me, it’s okay I could tell that you wanted to ask her out the first time I saw you too together. I mean I adore you, but I would never fill your office with flowers.”

“That was a friendly gesture,” grumbled Lena, “I just need to know that you can come with us for coffee”

“Of course, I can, but why wouldn’t you two just go by yourselves?”

“We got into big fight and it’s our first solo meeting.” Lena was feeling more nervous about it now that she’s actually asking Sam, “I just need you there to make things less awkward and to make sure that things don’t go out of hand.”

“Lena, before I left, I said call me if you have any problems, and this is the first I’m hearing of this?” admonished Sam.

“I need Kara’s permission before I say anymore but you just need to know that it was bad, and I’m asking as your friend if you would just come and help me out.”

Sam decided not to push the issue with Lena, but she’d get to the bottom of this. There’s got to be some perks in third wheeling after all.

“I promise that I’ll drop it for now, but you I’m expecting an explanation one day.”

Lena was grateful that Sam knew not to push the issue, but she wasn’t feeling as confident about her coffee shop idea anymore.

“And you’ll get one, I promise. I’ve got a board meeting to get to, but I’ll call back later to speak to Ruby”

  * -



Lena was just about reading to start her 10 AM meeting, when Jess entered her office holding something that looked suspiciously like a magazine.

“Miss Luthor, I know that you’ve got your 10 AM but I thought that you should see this before you go in”

Jess nervously placed the paper on Lena’s desk. It was an image from the party, with Kara stood in between Lena and Andrea. From the angle it was taken at, you would think that Lena was shouting at Supergirl. The headline, “No Respect for National City’s Hero” was sprawled across the front page in big, obnoxious, black letters.

Lena didn’t need to look any further to know what the article was about, or to see that it was written by CatCo, personally edited by Andrea herself.

Deciding that phoning legal would take far too long, Lena decided to ring Andrea herself.

Once again it picked up on the first ring, Andrea clearly having nothing better to do than wait for Lena’s call.

“Lena, what a pleasant surprise it is to hear from you!” Lena was sure that if hell existed it involved listening to this woman’s voice on repeat. “What can I do for you?”

“Andrea, I have had it with your games. Keep myself and Supergirl out of your fucking mouth. I shouldn’t have to remind you of the meaning, ‘defamation lawsuit’ because I’ve heard that they have the unfortunate quality of sending magazine companies like yours bust.”

Andrea’s laugh cut short at that and Len could practically see her face drop.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Luthor” Andrea’s voice growled out, cold as ice.

Lena couldn’t believe the audacity of someone she used to be friends with, and she was just about done with Andrea’s antics.

“Or what Andrea. This is the last time I will be speaking to you regarding your pathetic, childish attempts at gaining attention.”

“How would your little lapdog feel if she knew that you were once prepared to share her identity with the world.”

Lena’s veins turned to ice and her heart dropped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it just me or is Andrea kind of a bitch? Once again, thank you for reading! Please leave a comment if you liked it - once again it's my first piece of writing so any constructive criticism is welcome.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thank you to everyone that has been leaving comments and kudos! They really make my day and inspire me to write, so any that are left are greatly appreciated. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Lena’s brain began to shift into overdrive as she to ran through all of the potential security breaches within her system. The file on Kara was encrypted by Lena personally, it was probably more secure than the nuclear codes and no one but her had access to it. She couldn’t believe that she’d been so idiotic as to actually write it down - and for what. Deep down Lena knew that revenge wouldn’t make her feel better, that she didn’t actually want to hurt Kara. Not enough to put her in any actual danger at least.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Lena decided that playing dumb would at least buy her time to figure out how much Andrea knew. She couldn’t risk giving away any more information than she had done already.

Andrea, as if she were auditioning to play the Wicked Witch of the West, cackled “You know exactly what I’m talking about. Or did the fact that you almost sent me a whole hard drive of evidence slip your mind”

“If you’re talking about whatever was on the file that I didn’t send you, that was not Supergirl’s identity. That was sensitive stock market information. You showed your true colours, Andrea, it’s why you didn’t get the file and its why I wouldn’t trust you with the password to the L-Corp bathroom.”

Denial may be a river in Egypt, but it was all Lena had left and she’d be damned if she was going to let any more information slip past. At this point all she could think about was Kara. There was no way Kara would forgive her after this. It was almost painfully ironic that the one thing she had dangled in front of Kara, the thing that she held above her head, was the one thing that Kara could take way in an instant.

“If you weren’t going to share Supergirl’s identity with me, then how did I get a rather ominous phone call last night from one of your tech guys claiming to be in possession of a file containing the very sensitive information of Supergirl’s identity”

There was so much running through Lena’s head that she couldn’t think straight. A physical breach was far more likely than a digital one, but Lena had been so careful. Any evidence destroyed. All L-Corp employees working directly with Lena had been there for years and she had enough dirt on all of them to stop any potential bribes. Not like she didn’t pay them well in the first place.

Andrea hadn’t once said Kara’s name. She may have a flair for the dramatics, but Andrea would be far more gleeful if she had found out that Lena’s best friend, her employee, was the one that Lena was willing to betray. Now that was headline news.

Lena sighed with relief. Andrea didn’t know that it was Kara. She thanked some unknown deity that they had at least given her that.

“The fact that you would come to me on the basis of a disgruntled employee with no evidence astounds me. Just like me, you have no knowledge of Supergirl’s identity, as it should be,” Lena added, “and you have rung me up to scare me with baseless rumours”.

“There’s no smoke without fire Lena. I may not know Supergirl’s true identity, but I know that she has one and that you were willing to share it.”

“No, you know that in a company as big as mine, employees get disgruntled and try to make things up. Honestly, I knew you were a bitch Andrea, but I at least thought that you had some common sense.”

Lena was glad that she could buy herself some time, but she knew that this was in no way the end of it. Not only did she have to deal with the fact that someone was able to steal her data, but also the fact that they were using it to cause untold damage in her life, as if she didn’t already have enough on her plate.

“You’re twitchy Lena, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the information given to me was not only true, but extremely valuable to you,”

Lena knew that, as annoying and malicious Andrea was being about the situation, she simply didn’t have the ammunition she thought she did. She didn’t know Kara’s identity and, whilst Lena would have to do some serious grovelling and may lose Kara forever, she could at least know that for now Kara was safe. For now at least.

“I’m twitchy because your voice sounds like nails on a chalk board. I’ve wasted enough of my day talking to you Andrea. I’ve got bigger problems to deal with than the petty squabbles you insist on bringing to my attention. Why don’t you actually try focusing on your own company, Lord knows the poor thing’s not doing well.”

And with that Lena put the phone down. She collapsed back into her chair and shut her eyes, trying to block out the events of the past day. If she had it, her way she’d block out the past year. Andrea’s call was alarming, but the thing that frightened Lena the most was that there was someone out there, who was intelligent enough to get into her encrypted systems, that could know Kara’s true identity. Kara was in danger and it was all her fault.

She looked at the bottle of scotch, thankful for its existence and began pouring the first of many glasses for the evening. She was going to have to tell Kara that her safety was in danger. All she could do was hope that if Kara was willing to fight so hard for them up until this point, then she’d be willing to let Lena do the same.

  * -



“Mom,” a very tired, drawn out voice took Sam’s attention away from the car in front, “are we there yet?”

Sam was almost regretting not taking up Lena’s offer of a helicopter ride, but private air travel had seemed risky, and she thought that a road trip would be a good bonding activity. Ruby seemed far more interested in her Netflix account, but Sam would take that over being stuck in a small metal box with a hyperactive child.

“Like I said five minutes ago, we’re almost at Lena’s penthouse. Lena said that there would be dinner waiting for us, so I want you to eat up then go straight to bed.”

Sam had tried to book a hotel, not wanting to intrude, but Lena had insisted that there was more than enough space at hers. She had been racking her brain all week trying to figure out what could have gone wrong between her favourite duo. She was determined to find out why they were going through a rough patch and fix it.

She would never stop being surprised at the places Lena found herself in. She had known that Lena had wealth from the moment she met her, but the lack of snobbery or righteousness always made her forget. The secret underground car parks and personal butlers were a good reminder.

As soon as they had parked the car, Ruby sprinted towards the entrance. Lena had always been so good to the both of them, so it was not surprising that Ruby loved visiting Lena so much.

“Wait one second Rubes, I’m not unpacking this all by myself.”

Ruby skidded to a halt, sheepish that she had run off so quickly, “But Mom, that man said to go right up.” She was pointing to a very bored looking man who Lena had sent down to assist them.

“And that’s very nice of him Ruby but we’re not leaving him all od this work to do when we both have two perfectly capable hands. You can at least take your iPad up”

Ruby, still very anxious to go up and see Lena, sprinted to the car and then ran back to the elevator, bouncing up and down as she waited for Sam to catch up.

When they were both finally ready the flashy security team escorted them to Lena’s door.

“Ruby remember that Auntie Lena has very kindly offered to let us stay here, so I want you on your best behaviour al weak.”

Ruby rolled her eyes at the obvious statement but nodded along anyway. Before they had a chance to knock a very tired looking Lena opened her door.

Ruby ran towards Lena, almost knocking her to the floor, “Lena! I’m so happy that we get to stay here.”

Lena was clearly unused to the blatant display of affection but quickly shook it off as she hugged Ruby back.

“I’m happy to see that you two made it so quickly. Was your journey alright?”

“It was lovely, barely any traffic. I just need to get this little on to bed and then we can have a proper catch up,” Sam looked at Lena pointedly as she said this, reminding her that she had not forgotten her earlier conversation.

Lena gulped heavily as she waited for Sam to come back. With all that had gone on she’d forgotten that Sam still needed an explanation about why her presence was needed at the coffee shop.

“Alright spill,” Sam emerged with two glasses of wine in her hand.

“What not even a hello first.” Lena chuckled weakly.

“We’ve said hello a thousand times Lena. This has clearly been bothering you for quite some time and I need some context before we go in there tomorrow.”

Sam was clearly not going to let this go, and Lena knew that she needed to talk to someone about it, but it was hard when bottling everything up had at least got her this far.

“I can’t tell you everything, because as I said Kara would need to agree to it first,” Lena began, “but I can tell you that Kara had kept something from me from the start of our friendship. Not even an ‘I forgot to tell you.’ type situation, she actively lied the entire time. I found out the truth from someone other than her and it devastated me.”

“I’m going to pretend that I don’t have a very good feeling that I know what you’re talking about, because I want to ask Kara myself. But I understand why you’d be so hurt Lena.”

“You would?” Lena had braced herself for Sam’s anger and blame, but she should have known that Sam wasn’t one to judge her like that.

“Of course, Lena, I know that it may have seemed like an overaction, a md it probably was, but that’s not surprising given your history. What I really want to know is why your going to see Kara when you’re clearly not ready.”

“I’m faking our friendship,” Lena murmured.

“I’m sorry you’re what?”

“It came to my attention that being unfriendly towards Kara was affecting my stock values,” Lena didn’t have to look up to know that Sam would be very, very confused, “I know it sounds out there, but I can’t say why. At least not yet. So, I decided to fake our friendship.”

“And Kara, just went along with it. No questions asked?” Sam didn’t like where this was going but she had to know before she saw Kara.

“Well, she clearly hasn’t been enjoying the whole “fake” aspect of it, but I think she was just happy for us to be talking again.”

Lena knew that this wasn’t making her look good, but her judgement had been impaired with anger at the time, and she didn’t have a time machine. If she did this definitely wasn’t the only thing she’d fix.

“Lena, I’m not here to lecture you, and I think that you already know what you did was wrong. But this situation clearly isn’t fair on Kara. Either your working towards your forgiveness together or you’re not. It’s cruel just to string her along like this.”

Lena felt the weight of the past few days come down on her at once, and she couldn’t supress the sob trying to escape any longer. Sam’s mother instincts kicked in and she immediately pulled Lena into a hug.

“Shh, Lena it’s okay you’ve done nothing than can’t be fixed,” soothed Sam.

“No, you d-, you don’t understand,” Lena got out in between sobs, “she’s going to hate me.”

Sam looked as confused as ever, “Lena the girl clearly doesn’t hate you if she’s willing to go along with this. In fact, I’m sure she probably thinks that there’s nothing to forgive.”

“I tried to out her,” Lena whispered, as if she had just disclosed the worst secret in the world.

“Lena everyone knows that Kara’s gay,” Sam laughed, “the new suit was indication enough,”

“No, not that!” Lena sighed, “her other secret. I had a file prepared and I was going to give it to Andrea. I didn’t, not that that matters now. Someone stole it and I have no idea who it is or how to get it back,”

“Oh,” Sam was clearly taken aback by the new revelation, “Lena you have to tell her.”

“I know. I’m going to tell her after we get coffee. I just want a few hours with her, without her hating me.”

Sam’s silence spoke volumes- not even she could say that it wasn’t at least a possibility.

  * -



Kara stood anxiously in line as she waited to get everyone’s coffees. She was almost glad that Sam was coming. At least there would be one friendly face to diffuse the tension. She felt an old sense of familiarity when she ordered Lena’s black coffee. It was funny how much she missed the little things when it came to Lena.

Kara had made sure to get there five minutes early so she could be sat down, ready, for when Lena came in. A cautious looking Lena was being practically dragged in by Sam, who immediately spotted Kara and came right over.

“Hey.” Kara was sure she sounded as nervous as she felt, “I didn’t know what your coffee order was Sam, so I went with a latte. But I can always change it, if you hate it.”

Sam smiled endearingly at Kara, who was clearly trying her best, “Nope, that sound perfect Kara, thank you.”

They both looked to Lena, who had not said a word. She really didn’t know how to act anymore. She was still so angry with Kara, but she was also aware that this could be the last time that Kara would ever want to be her friend.

“Thanks for the coffee Kara,” Lena spoke softly, surprising both Kara and Sam.

Sam’s cough took them both out of a trance, “why don’t we all sit down.”

Somehow the chairs seems extra loud, as they scraped along the floor. Although, that could be down to the fact that silence had settled amongst them again.

“So,” Sam began, desperately searching for a conversation starter, “Kara how’s reporting going.”

From Lena’s sharp intake of breath, it sounded like that was the wrong thing to say. “It’s definitely going!” Kara was clearly trying to keep the conversation positive, “I’m thinking free lance is more of my style these days – less restrictions.”

“That’s great Kara,” Sam was genuinely happy that Kara was able to do her own thing, “Look, Kara I need to ask you something.”

Lena’s head snapped up. This was not part of the designated ten conversation starters that they had agreed upon.

“Um, sure go ahead,” Kara chucked nervously.

“You don’t have to answer me and if you don’t, we can pretend that this never happened and moved on.” Kara and Lena both looked terrified as Sam took a deep breath before asking, “Are you Supergirl?”

Kara shot daggers at Lena, assuming that it had been her that had revealed her delicate secret. Lena looked indignant, still not over the shock that Sam had found out, and was about to defend herself when Sam stepped in.

“Lena didn’t tell me anything, I promise Kara. In fact, she was fiercely adamant that she couldn’t tell me anything. I just had a feeling, and after Alex slipped up-“

“You’ve been speaking to Alex?” both Kara and Lena asked almost simultaneously.

“We’ve kept in touch,” Sam seemed embarrassed that she had revealed such a thing,” Alex has Ruby at the moment.”

“So, Alex told you?” Kara felt uncomfortable that her sister would disclose such a thing without at least asking her first.

“No, no not at all!" Sam rushed to fix her mistake, “she slipped up and said she had to go see Kara, and then when I next spoke to her she was with Supergirl. But, if I’m being honest, I suspected it long before then, you’re not that good at hiding it Kara." 

“Well, she fooled me,” Lena said under her breath. Kara heard, but she decided that she had more pressing matters to attend to.

“To answer your question then Sam, yes I am Supergirl,” Kara did a quick check to see if anyone could have heard and when she was satisfied that no one did she looked back to Sam, “and yes that it why Lena and I are... are having difficulties but I’d really appreciate if you didn’t mention it to anyone.”

“You have my word Kara. I could never even dream of giving away your identity like that.” As the words left her lips she silently cursed as she realised that it probably wasn’t the best thing to say, considering what Lena had told her earlier.

“So… Lena is everything going alright with L-Corp now?” Kara realised that she hadn’t actually spoken directly to Lena the entire time that they’d been there, and she felt like she was wasting a rare chance to speak to Lena directly.

Lena had been feeling the exact same way, only she felt like she wouldn’t get another chance, so she perked up and managed to get out, “Yeah everything’s looking a lot better now. Thank you for asking”

“Great! That’s really great.”

It was clear that no conversation could take place when they weren’t addressing the unmovable distance between them. Lena felt worse knowing that Kara was trying her best, but she couldn’t think about anything else than the fear that she was about to lose Kara for good.

Even when they weren’t speaking Lena always knew that all it would take was one phone call, one message and Kara would come running. Now the only thing she could be sure of was the fact that she fucked up. Big time.

“I’m sorry to cut this short but I said I’d be back at Alex’s to pick up Ruby in about ten minutes,” Sam wasn’t sure if this ending was a good or bad thing. The two clearly needed to talk, but they seemed to be doing everything except that.

“Don’t be silly Sam, tell Alex and Ruby I said hi when you get there,” Kara replied, fidgeting with her sweater as she did. “I should probably be going as well.”

“Actually, Kara I was wondering if you could come back to my penthouse with me?” Lena blurted out, “There’s something I need to talk to you about, and it’s best if we did it in private.”

Kara looked shocked, she ran through all the things she could have done to upset Lena with and came up empty. She had no idea what Lena could possibly want to talk to Kara about.

“Uh, sure!” Kara would take any opportunity to talk to Lena, no matter how confused she may be.

Sam looked over at Lena before she left, a mixture of sorrow and warning filling her eyes. Her message was clear, Lena needed to tell her and hoped that Kara was more forgiving than she was.

  * -



Sam pulled up to Alex’s and allowed herself a moment to think about what had happened at the coffee shop. The fact that Kara was Supergirl wasn’t exactly a revelation, but it was nice to finally know. This did however mean that Lena was willing to share Kara’s identity with the world.

Sam knew that Lena could do what she liked to Kara, and that girl was so in love with her that she wouldn’t even bat an eyelid. But revealing her identity put everyone in danger, put _Alex_ in danger, and Sam wasn’t sure if Kara could move past such a betrayal so easily.

“Sam, what are you doing sitting in your car,” Alex had noticed Sam the moment she arrived, but she had started to get worried when Sam didn’t come straight up.

“I don’t know how you’ve put up with those two for so long like this.”

“Was it that bad?” Alex knew that the whole idea was bad when she first heard it from Sam, and she didn’t think that it was far for either of them to drag another person into their arguments.

“Worse.” Sam would never want anything to come between her and Alex, but she would imagine that Lena’s plans wouldn’t sit well with Alex either.

“Alex, Lena did something bad and she knows that she messed up and she’s going to try and fix it. Just don’t be surprised if Kara turns up tonight.”

“What did Lena do?” Alex growled out

“I think it’s best if you hear it from Kara, but I don’t think anything you can say or do to Lena that will make her feel worse than she does already.”

“Sam if she’s put her in any kind of danger then I won’t be able to just ignore it.”

Sam really didn’t want to talk about this with Alex anymore. She knew that it would only lead to an argument and she didn’t want anything to ruin her plans for tonight. It would be the first time that she’d asked someone out since Ruby, and she wanted it to be perfect.

“I know that Kara’s Supergirl,” she blurted out. It was a good enough change of subject.

“Did Lena tell you?” Alex suddenly looked very, very angry.

Well that didn’t make the outcome of later look any better.

“No of course not. I had my suspicions, so I asked, and she said yes.” Nothing more, nothing less.

“Sam, I trust you more than anything, but you can’t – “

“Tell anyone,” Sam interrupted “Not that I ever would in a million years want to do that to Kara, but I would never jeopardise our friendship Alex.”

“I know that you’re only here for a little bit,” Alex had tried to get Sam to stay longer but she said she was far too busy with work, she actually didn’t want to have to stay in National City any longer than she had to if Alex rejected her, but Alex didn’t need to know that. “So, let’s not waste time talking about those two idiots.”

“Gladly. Now tell me what my two favourite munchkins have been up to.”

Alex had hated the nickname when she first heard it, arguing that it should be reserved for Ruby, and Ruby only. But somehow it had grown on her.

“You’ve raised the best kid,” Sam’s heart felt like it grew three times with that statement, “I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who’s actually a match for me at Mario Kart, but she even won Rainbow Road!”

Sam laughed as she led the two of them inside. She could definitely get used to this.

  * -



Lena had not said a word to Kara during their journey to Lena’s apartment. Kara was growing more worried with each passing minute, trying to figure out what she had done to make Lena so angry. Lena just didn’t trust herself to speak – too afraid that she’d start crying or shout at Kara in fear.

She had no idea how she was going to tell Kara.

They arrived at Lena’s in what felt like an eternity for Kara and a split second for Kara. In some ways the two had never been so distant, which was strange considering how badly both of them just wanted things to go back to normal.

For Lena, it felt like it did when you have a cold and you don’t realise how good it feels to just breathe. She took Kara for granted and it felt like the entire world was choking her. All Lena wanted to do was _breathe_.

They were at Lena’s door in what felt like the next second and Lena just wanted to pause time.

“Would you like a water Kara?” Anything to delay the conversation.

“No, I’m good” Kara, however just wanted to know what this was all about, what she had done. “If you don’t mind Lena, I really would like to get on to the talk you wanted to have.”

“Right, of course, “ Lena didn’t know where to begin. “Before I start Kara please remember that I was angry and stupid, and I never wanted any of this to happen. I didn’t actually want to go through with any of it. It was a heat of the moment thing that has gotten out of hand and I never wanted to hurt you like this. Just, just don’t hate me please.”

To say Kara was confused would be an understatement. The last time they spoke Lena could hardly admit to even the possibility that she might forgive Kara, and now she begging for her to not hate Lena? None of this made any sense.

“Lena I could never hate you,” Kara couldn’t even fathom the idea of hating Lena, “Just say what you need to say.”

Lena looked Kara in the eyes, trying to sear the memory into her mind. The last time that Kara looked at Lena like she was a decent human being. She decided to just jump right in and get everything out at once.

“I compiled a file of evidence that I was going to send to Andrea so she could tell the world that you were Supergirl. I promise that I _never_ sent it to Andrea or anyone and I thought that I had destroyed it. But Andrea rang me yesterday and someone has the file and knew that I was going to send it to her. I promise that she doesn’t know your real identity but there’s a possibility that someone out there does, and it doesn’t look like they’re above using it to blackmail me.”

Kara just stood there. She didn’t even know how to respond to that.

“Kara please say something.”

“Let me just get this straight. When I was stood in front of you begging for forgiveness, and you didn’t even think you could give me that, you knew that you had tried to betray me.”

“Kara, I swear that I didn’t know that anyone else had the file. I was so disgusted with myself that I destroyed it straight away. I was just so angry that you had lied.”

“Two wrongs don’t make a fucking right, Lena.”

Kara had never sworn at Lena before, and she could tell that Kara was pissed. Lena felt like she was losing Kara and she needed to fix it.

“I know Kara and I am so, so sorry that this has happened. Can we just sit down so we can figure out how to fix this?”

“Fix this? Do you even realize what you’ve done Lena? Do you think that I risked everything, risked our friendship, over my secret because I felt like it? There is a long list of people that want me dead and if they knew about Alex, about you, then they wouldn’t hesitate to kill you.”

“Kara, I know I fucked up, but can we please talk about this,” Lena sobbed.

Lena didn’t even register the tears cascading down her face, too focused on Kara to think about anything else.

“Like you let me talk to you when you found out I was Supergirl?” Kara scoffed, “I think you’ve done enough Lena.”

Lena braced for the next comment. She could see it coming but she was actively praying, no begging for Kara to not leave.

“Please don’t go Kara,” Lena’s voice broke as she begged Kara to stay. It was mind blowing that the situation could be so different, so quickly. In the worst way possible.

“You wanted to push me away Lena,” Kara shook her head, “Well, you got your fucking wish.”

The slam of her door cut through Lena and it was all she could do to scream. She sank down against her door, and she truly did not think that she had ever known pain like this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone enjoyed that! I know that it looks bad for them now but I promise that it will get better.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for over 400 Kudos, and for everyone who commented on the last chapter! I'm so glad that people are enjoying this story so far and I really hope that you like this chapter.

Chapter 4

Kara felt the thud of Lena’s body against the door before she had a chance to speed away. Her thoughts were clouded with pain and anger, clawing away any thoughts she may have had of turning back. Her mind was a whirlpool; everything had changed so quickly, and she couldn’t think straight.

She flew aimlessly for what felt like hours before she found herself on Alex’s balcony, her self-preservation instincts clearly recognising that she was in no state to look after herself. She was still visibly shaking with anger when Alex found her.

“Kara, what are you doing out here?” Alex could have almost mistaken her for an abandoned animal, as Kara was collapsed in a heap on the ground, shielding herself with her cape, “Kara, Kara, look at me.”

Kara looked completely out of it, her tears blocking her vision, and falling faster than Alex could catch them.

“Kara, you’re scaring me, what happened?”

“Lena betrayed me,” Kara murmured darkly.

“What are you talking about?” At this point Alex was attempting to guide Kara onto her couch, alarmed by the fact that Kara still didn’t seem to be aware of where she was.

Kara just scoffed and rolled her eyes, “Don’t act so surprised Alex. You told me this would happen. Poor naïve little Kara.”

“Kara, you’re not making any sense, please just tell me what happened.”

To say that Alex was worried would be an understatement. She had never seen Kara like this before, and she liked to think that they’d been through it all together. But Kara looked like she was barely holding herself together.

“Lena was going to reveal my identity to everyone.”

The news hit Alex with almost as much force as it had done with Kara. She knew that the two of them were going through a rough patch, but she always assumed that somewhere, even if it was very deep down, within Lena she would never actually be able to hurt Kara.

Maybe Alex was wrong.

“Tell me everything,” Alex growled out.

“She had an entire file prepared about me and she was going to give it to everyone.”

“She _was_ going to give it to everyone?” Alex was having a hard time following Kara’s story.

Kara rolled her head back, as if she was going to laugh, but instead she let out a long sigh and chuckled to herself.

“See this is where it gets really funny,” Kara’s tone definitely didn’t match that description, “She said that she destroyed everything, that she got cold feet and never gave it to anyone. But then, poof, she lost it.”

Kara’s hands moved dramatically and if Alex didn’t know any better, she would have thought that Kara was drunk. She was so focused on Kara that she almost missed what she said.

“I’m sorry she- she lost it?”

“Like I said poof.”

Alex began to pace and decided that she needed Kara to be with her now. The idea of someone out there knowing Kara’s identity was terrifying. Alex knew that everyone liked to think of Kryptonite as Kara’s greatest weakness but to her Kara’s love for others was what put her in danger.

Kara would go into any situation, no matter the risk to her if she knew Alex or Lena, or anyone she loved, was in danger.

“Kara, focus.” Alex snapped her fingers in front of Kara’s face. “Who has the file now?”

“I don’t know Alex, but they’ve already told Andrea that Lena was going to give it to her” Kara was starting to come back from the headspace that took her away from Alex. With that came the crushing remembrance that everyone she knew was now in danger.

“Kara, we need to figure out who has it”

“Don’t you think I know that Alex. I don’t even know where to start, Lena apparently didn’t think that maybe holding onto it might have been a good idea.”

Kara’s voice was filled with a fire that shocked Alex, especially as she was talking about Lena. Alex had wanted Kara to take a stand and stick up for herself, but not like this. Never like this.

“Kara I know that you’re hurting right now and I promise that as soon as this is over we will deal with that but we have to locate the file and whoever is behind this.”

Alex calm and collected stance seemed oxymoronic to Kara’s distress but Alex knew that she needed to figure this out – or someone was going to get hurt. At the crux of it this was a digital equation and she just hoped that the agents at the DEO would be able to figure it out.

Alex’s words seemed to flip a switch in Kara, who now looked very guilty for having a breakdown, “You’re right Alex, and I need to get over myself. I’m sorry that this puts you in danger.

Alex rolled her eyes as Kara’s choice of words. That wasn’t what she had meant at all but if it was what Kara needed to believe to get back on track she’d take it.

“You haven’t put me in any kind of danger,” Alex had some stark words for Lena when she next saw her, “I promise we’ll get this all sorted, and everything will go back to normal. Rest up and we’ll get going soon”

Normal. Kara knew that Alex was trying to reassure her, but it only made her realise how much her life had changed. What even was her normal? Most importantly did it even include Lena anymore?

  * -



Alex had almost forgotten about her guests in the commotion and she just hoped that Ruby wouldn’t ask her any questions when she walked back in. She’d kill Lena for ruining what was meant to have been the best night of her life.

Alex felt guilty for feeling happy about her newly established relationship with Sam when Kara was so clearly upset. Her thoughts must have been too loud because Sam appeared in her doorway with a concerned expression etched across her face.

“You should’ve just told me what Lena had done.”

Whilst Alex knew that it wasn’t Sam’s fault she felt like a lot of Kara’s pain could have been prevented if she knew what was going on beforehand. Maybe she could have fixed it earlier.

Sam braced herself for an argument that she really didn’t want to have, especially when she had just confessed her feeling to Alex and when Ruby was sleeping in the next room.

“I told you all that I could, but like I said it was Kara’s story to tell – not mine,” placated Sam, “Let’s not ruin our night over this. Please”

“I know, I know, I just hate to see Kara this upset.”

Sam saw this coming from a mile away. Alex’s protectiveness over her loved ones is one of the reasons she fell in love with her. But everyone needed a level head and Sam could tell that this was going to be a long night.

“I know that it’s awful to see her like this bit I have every confidence that we can all sort this out together.”

“We shouldn’t have to be doing any of this Sam. What kind of person would do this to Kara? What kind of self – centred, vindictive, little –“

“Alex, stop,” snapped Sam, “It was an accident.”

Alex scoffed and rolled her eyes, “An accident. Losing the file may have been but writing it wasn’t, and that in itself is unforgivable.”

“She’s hurting too Alex.”

“So was Kara!” The plan to not start an argument was falling apart pretty quickly, all thanks to Lena. “And that girl devoted her life to making it up to Lena, and for what, she threw her under the bus the moment that she could“

The amount of hatred that Alex felt for Lena was building with each passing minute. She honestly didn’t know how she was going to react when she next saw her, but she knew that she had to keep calm. For Sam just as much as Kara.

“I know the situation is awful Alex, but we’re not going to solve it by shouting at each other”

“I’m sorry,” Alex felt genuinely bad for snapping at Sam, “I promise that I’ll keep it under wraps. I’m going to need your help with this too.”

She didn’t want to think about the fact that Sam was Lena’s best friend and would therefore want Alex to forgive her. Deep down she knew that Lena didn’t mean for it all to end up like this, but it had, and she was sick and tired of everyone ignoring the consequences of their own actions.

“We’re going to find the sick person who’s doing this Alex. I promise.”

“What if we’re already too late, what if her identity has been shipped out on a silver platter to all of the anti- alien organisations on the planet?”

“Then we’ll figure it out Alex, but there’s no use speculating about the worst case scenarios. We can only deal with what we know and right now all we know is that there’s someone out there with Kara’s identity and we need to find out who it is.”

A shrill ring breaks the one moment of peace and clarity Alex had had since she saw Kara land on her balcony. The look on Sam’s face was a sure giveaway but Alex hoped to God that Sam wasn’t about to leave her to see Lena.

She mouthed an ‘I’m sorry’ to Alex as she picked up the phone. She didn’t even need to look up to know that Sam was already getting ready to leave. Fucking Lena.

“That was Lena,” Sam felt like she was caught between a rock and a hard place, “I really hate to do this to you but she sounds like she really needs my help. I know you’re headed to the DEO so I’ll just meet you there with her.”

Alex had never heard something so ridiculous in her entire life. As if she would let Lena anywhere near the DEO. Well, unless it was to escort her to a jail cell but she didn’t have time for that right now.

“Absolutely not Sam, I don’t want her anywhere near me or Kara right now. I won’t stop you from leaving but I am not dealing with her right now.”

“How gracious of you,” scoffed Sam, “I get that you’re mad but you and I both know that you’re going to need Lena’s help if you want to get this all fixed quickly.”

The fact that Sam was right annoyed Alex even more.

“If she tries anything...”

“She won’t. I know you don’t believe me but she’s devastated and all she wants to do is help. All I’m asking you to do is to make sure Ruby’s alight before you leave and to not make a scene when we get there.”

If Lena wasn’t grateful for Sam’s friendship before then the fact that she managed to stop a livid Alex from hurting her would do it.

  * -



Lena had sat slumped against her door for what felt like hours, just mindlessly staring off into space whilst letting her tears fall to the ground. It physically hurt to breathe and no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t make it stop.

She knew that Kara didn’t want her to help but she _needed_ to something, and as much as Kara may not want to admit it, they needed Lena’s help as well.

But Lena couldn’t bring herself to even move. Because moving from where she was sat would mean having to face up to what she had done, having to face Kara. The image of Kara’s face was all she could think about and it was making her feel physically sick.

She picked up the phone to call Sam because she knew that she needed to get up, but she really didn’t know if she could do it by herself.

The knock at the door jolted her heart, and it was nice to have a reminder that there was something in there. She dragged herself up and tried to wipe away her tears, not wanting Sam to feel any sympathy for her.

“Lena what happened here?” Sam scanned the room and saw numerous broken glasses and scattered furniture.

“Kara hates me.”

“I know it looks bad now but I know that it’s going to get better for you two.”

“I know that you want to help Sam, but it’s not going to get better. I don’t deserve it to get better; Kara’s better off without me.”

It wasn’t like Sam didn’t expect Lena to be like this, it was obvious that Lena loved Kara and that the idea of hurting her would eat Lena up inside, but that didn’t make seeing her like this any easier.

“Don’t talk like that Lena,” scolded Sam, “We’re going to go the DEO and we’re going to sort this whole mess out and once we’re done with that you’re going to sort out you and Kara”

Lena almost laughed at that, “There is no, me and Kara, Sam, I ruined everything.”

“Snap out of this and stop being so self-pitying,” Sam didn’t like being so mean to Lena but she thought that she would fight fire with fire.

“Get yourself together so we can go and fix this. Then you are going to apologise to Kara until you are blue in the face and you are not giving up on yourself or your relationship with her.”

This at least made Lena sit up and begin to get ready. Sam knew that if Lena really put her mind to it she could figure out who stole her fire. She didn’t become the CEO of a multi –billion company by not being a genius, even if she didn’t think that she was.

“I already miss her Sam, how is that even possible.”

Lena sounded so broke and it shattered Sam’s heart. Those two idiots really needed to sort themselves out.

“You’re scared that you’ve ruined your relationship with Kara forever but you shouldn’t be,”

Sam was certain of nothing else in this universe than the fact that those two were in love with each other, and call her crazy, but she knew that they were meant to be together.

“But I have Sam; there is nothing that I can do to make her forgive me, and certainly nothing I can do to make me deserve her forgiveness.”

Sam decided that making Lena hopeful just wasn’t going to work out today so she decided the next best tactic. She just hoped that Lena would see sense soon.

“Lena if you won’t get up and compose yourself for you then you have to do it for Kara,” Sam knew that they were all running out of time, and every second that they wasted in Lena’s apartment was another second that Kara was in danger.

“All I want to do I help her.” Lena still didn’t know how she was going to face Kara.

“I know you do, which is why we need to go now.” Sam tried her best to convey the urgency of the situation, “We need to go for Kara okay, let’s just go for Kara.”

“Kara,” Lena said her name like it made everything make sense, “I’m going to find out who stole the file and I’m going to make sure that she’s not in any danger”

Lena said the word with some much conviction, it sounded like she was making a personal vow, which in a way she probably was.

“I know seeing Kara is going to be hard but just remember that we’re all there to help her and even if things are a little awkward it’s only because it’s all so fresh.”

Sam just hoped that Ale would keep it under wraps for the sake of Kara. She just didn’t know how Kara was going to react. She didn’t think that she’s ever known Kara to be upset, actually genuinely angry, with someone close to her.

“I know that it’s going to be awkward but I need to fix this for Kara, whatever it takes.”

Lena’s sacrificial tone made Sam feel uneasy, like the progress she had made wasn’t necessarily a good thing, but time was of the essence so she decided to push the feeling down.

“I made Alex promise not to start anything so just let me know if she does,” Sam was trying to be comforting once again but Lena wasn’t paying attention to her anymore, “Lena it’s all going to be okay.”

Lena didn’t justify that with a response and walked past Sam like she was getting ready to go to war.

  * -



Alex was stood with her eyes glued to a computer screen currently combing through every file that L-Corp had ever produced. Kara didn’t know what to do with herself. Clearly she wanted to go and physically catch this person herself, but this stage could only be done digitally so she paced up and down waiting for news.

A very sheepish looking Lena was basically dragged into the DEO by a stern looking Sam, as if she was daring Alex to say anything. Alex just glared at Lena, and went back to burning a hole through the computer screen.

Technically this was Lena’s element, solving puzzles – especially ones with a data trace, but she looked extremely put out. Kara hadn’t even looked at her so far.

“I think I can help,” Lena piped up meekly, afraid of the reaction of everyone in the room.

“Well we don’t have all day Luthor,” Alex replied harshly, in defiance of Sam’s glare.

Lena took a deep breath and decided to ignore Alex’s harsh tone, “It’s a long shot but what if we go through Andrea’s call history?”

“What good would that do?” The question came from a random DEO agent.

Alex had handpicked her most trusted agents to help her out on the job, and none of them knew what they were actually doing. They all thought that there were there to track down a mysterious villain that had been harassing Supergirl in recent fights.

“This hacker called Andrea at her office to give her the information, so maybe we could go through her phone list and see if anyone sticks out. Like I said I know it’s a long shot and they may have used a burner phone but it’s worth a try.”

Kara was now also staring intensely at Lena, as if she was trying to figure out whether or not to truth her words, but nodded as if to give the agents permission to carry the search out.

There were some grumbles about how this exercise was a waste of time but as Lena sat down to help the effort she remained hopeful.

Strong taps filled the room as the agents hacked into Andrea’s phone and began to look through each detail of each caller. Lena could feel various eyes on her back but she decided not to let that, or the fact that Kara seemed intent on ignoring her, affect her work.

After what felt like a very tedious half an hour Lena noticed a new number. It wasn’t affiliated with any business or editing company and the call had lasted for twenty minutes. The number seemed to come from a National City cell phone, and whilst it may have been missed by others, there was just something about it that didn’t feel right to Lena.

“I think that I found something.”

A large group of agents, with Sam, Kara and Alex amongst them, crowded around Lena to see if her discovery was worth following up. All Kara could see were numbers on a page and she was getting frustrated at not being able to actually _do_ something to help.

“How can we tell if this is actually the number belonging to the guy who has the file?” Alex was still sceptical of Lena’s work, after all the evidence provided was hardly concrete.

Everyone began to shout out outlandish ideas that Sam wasn’t even sure were scientifically or physically possible and it felt like they were all grasping at straws.

“Um, I might sound a bit crazy here but has anyone thought of just ringing the number?” Sam questioned.

“It’s risky, if it goes wrong we could lose the only lead we have,” Alex pointed out.

“It’s not like we’ve got any other option,” Sam retorted.

“We might as well give it go.” Kara and Lena called out in unison. They both then glanced down at the floor clearly not ready to be reminded of each other’s presence in the room.

“Okay but I want only restricted personnel in this room please.”

Everyone but Sam, Kara, Alex and Lena filed out of the room following Alex’s orders. The room suddenly got very, very tense.

“I can set up a line to track the number if they do pick up, we’ve just got to keep them on the line for at least a little while.”

No one had any idea what to expect on the other line and everyone looked just as the person next to them.

“Go ahead Lena,” Alex decide that it was best to remain impartial, as if she were simply a DEO agent, at least until they had nailed this guy.

Sam looked gratefully at Alex and everyone held their breath as the phone began to ring, the shrill tone echoing throughout the room.

  * -



“Lena and Kara! How nice of you two to finally call,” A distorted computerized voice filled the silence in the room.

“How the hell do you know our names?” growled Kara.

She was the embodiment of power and she was far more Supergirl than Kara Danvers in this moment, and she looked _pissed_.

“Please try to keep up the pleasantries Kara; we wouldn’t want me to get upset now would we.”

The voice was extremely patronising and for each word Lena got more scared, and Kara got angrier.

“Stop being a coward and tell me who you are and where you’re hiding.”

Kara could tell that this man was pathetic and that he was only so cocky because he could hide behind a screen with his anonymity. She bet that he’d act different when she found him.

“Gladly!” That shocked everyone in the room and Kara was about to respond, but the man got in first “On one condition.”

Kara groaned loudly. Why did everyone have to have conditions and ulterior motives? She just wanted to go back to the good old days of stopping bank robberies and car crashes.

“And what would that be?” she spat out.

“I’ll give you my location, that I’m sure you’ll have figured out that you can’t track from this phone call, if you send Lena to it. Alone”

Kara had almost forgotten that Lena was in the room, and her head snapped up to look at her. She looked so scared and confused and Kara didn’t know who the hell this man thought that he was but there was no way that he would take Lena from them. Over her dead body.

She was about to respond with such when the voice interrupted her, “I’ll give you ten minutes to decide.”

The phone went dead and everyone stood in disbelief.

“Absolutely not,” Kara started, “There is no way that Lena is going there, alone or with backup.”

“I think it would be for the best,” It was the first time Lena had spoken to Kara since their fight and, although she really wished that it didn’t have to be like this, no one was going to stop her from helping Kara.

“Are you absolutely insane Lena?” Kara couldn’t believe that she’d even be considering this. “Do you have any idea how much danger you would be in?”

“I’m sure that it’s no more danger than I put you in, Kara, and it’s not like I haven’t survived my fair share of death threats.”

“I’m with Kara, Lena it would be absolutely ridiculous for you to go by yourself.” There was no way Sam would let her best friend get hurt either.

“I’m sure that we could make it very safe for Lena, and if we keep her protected this really does seem like a simple way to catch this guy.” Alex could tell that she would get glares for her statement but it was true.

“I said no and I mean it. Lena. Is. Not. Going” spat Kara, as if she dared anyone to defy her words.

Lena stood helplessly as everyone argued about her. She really didn’t want to die, but she would gladly jump in front of a bullet for Kara, and if this was what would help them catch this guy then she was all for it.

She was her own person and she didn’t need others to fight for her, although she’d be lying if she said that Kara’s protective stance didn’t make her feel a million times better. Ignoring the fact that a psychopath wanted to meet with her – alone.

“I don’t need anyone to fight my battles, Kara, and I don’t appreciate people trying to tell me what I can and can’t do. If this is what will help Kara, I’ll do it.”

“Lena if this is about our fight then we can talk about it, don’t do something stupid because we’re not talking.”

“It’s not stupid, Kara, and like Alex said it’s the perfect opportunity to catch this guy, we shouldn’t pass it up because there’s a small risk that I could get hurt.”

Kara looked physically in pain when Lena talked about herself possibly getting hurt. She was furious that Alex would say such a thing, but she couldn’t help but feel like she was losing this battle.

Just as it looked like they were all going to start fighting again, the phone rang. Everyone looked stuck before Lena reached forward and put the phone on speaker.

“Well what did you lovely ladies decide?” Kara shuddered at the voice and she was so close to re-evaluating her stance on killing villains.

All eyes were on Lena.

“I’ll do it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These two definitely bring angst with them wherever they go. I hope everyone enjoyed that and is staying safe! If you did like it please leave me a comment to let me know!

**Author's Note:**

> Once again sorry if that was terrible, but I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know if you want to read any more. I hope everyone is staying safe and washing their hands.


End file.
